24 mai, 2005 02:39
IOC 'deal' with Dow draws flak
NT Bureau
Chennai, May 30:
Condemning the Indian Oil Corporation's plans to do business with Dow Chemical, the new owner of Union Carbide, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), a forum seeking justice for the Bhopal gas tragedy victims, has called for a nation-wide boycott of IOC's products until the company abandons its plans.
The Indian Oil has approved a technology purchase agreement with Dow Chemical to source Union Carbide's technology for the Mono Ethylene Glycol unit at its upcoming Naphtha refinery in Panipat, Haryana.
The ICJB held a demonstration in Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar's constituency Saturday criticising him for not cancelling the deal and blacklisting Dow Chemical.
A motorcycle rally was flagged off from Mayiladuthurai to the city the same day. As many as 20 members of the Madras Bulls, a Chennai-based club of 'Bullet' or 'Royal Enfield' enthusiasts, participated in the rally which reached here last evening.
'The Union Carbide is charged with culpable homicide in the Bhopal Magistrate's Court for its role in the Bhopal disaster. In February 1992, the company was proclaimed an absconder by the Magistrate after it repeatedly failed to honour summons issued by the court. In January 2005, the Magistrate ordered that summons be issued to Dow Chemical, asking the parent company to produce Union Carbide in Court. Dow maintains that it does not recognise the Indian court's criminal jurisdiction over Carbide,' Nityanand Jayaraman, member, ICJB told News Today.
'We want the Indian Oil to drop any plan to do business along with Dow Chemical and also the Union Government to pressurise Dow Chemical in bringing the parent company Union Carbide to court. If it failed Dow Chemical should be blacklisted', he said.
If Mani Shankar Iyer failed to intervene, 'we are going to mobilise the public support in Mayiladuthurai against him to make sure that he is not elected from the constituency for next term,' he said.
'We are appalled by the Indian Oil's proposal to do business with Union Carbide. It is like rewarding a criminal accused of murder with a lucrative business deal. As motorists and consumers of Indian Oil products, we will encourage our friends to boycott the IOC till the company abandons the deal with Dow-Carbide,' said Jaychandran, a member of the Madras Bulls.
Other supporters to the protest were the Corporate Accountability Desk, Human Rights Tamilnadu Initiative, and Mayiladuthurai-based Thamizhar Urimai Iyakkam, Penn Thozhilargal Sangam and Thanthai Periyar Kazhagam.
